Flying With Damaged Feathers

by hornethead

Chapter 14: Change Of Plan

Chapter 14: Change Of Plan

Ruwa was still mad. She refused to speak to Tiran unless it was necessary. Even then, it was in short, clipped sentences.

Tiran was used to the cold shoulder. He actually liked it when people left him alone. Even so, the silence between them was uncomfortable. Even tense.

They were about four hours into the day, inexorably marching on to their next stop. A small trading post lay up ahead, only a few more hours walk. If they kept the pace, they would make it there well before sundown. The idea in itself was heartening to tiran. He was willing to bet there would be hot food, even if there wouldn't be any meat.

God, he missed meat.

They marched on like this for a time. Ruwa silently leading the way while Tiran trailed behind. Tiran had a nice little buzz, more from his brush with death than from the whiskey.

The silence started to wear on Tiran after a while. He tried asking Ruwa more questions, but he got an angry huff as many times as he got continued silence. Eventually, Tiran settled for checking in on Li.

"Internal comms," he muttered, "Li, what's the update on the suit?"

'Most functions have recovered to optimal operating status. Water still detected in some sections, but effect is negligible.' she replied in her usual fluid internal voice.

"Good. Keep monitoring in case something goes south."

'I shall.' There was a pause. Then Li said, 'Your relationship with our guide is strained. I suggest you seek a resolution for the continued mutual benefit within the group.'

The un-requested advice from Li caught Tiran a little off guard. It was something she usually only offered for emergency situations. Not social interactions. It put him off, but he decided to ignore it for now and humor her. At least until he could figure out what was going on with her circuitry.

"I know. I've tried, but she's still mad. Don't know why. We're barely friends. But you know how it is with you females."

'I would not, considering I am not technically a female.' Li pointed out. 'However, I must agree with her that what you did was unnecessarily dull minded, whatever noble sentiments. Had it not been for her, neither of us would be functioning at the moment.'

Tiran sighed. She had been reminding him all morning. Li wasn't without a valid point and she had as much stake in his continued survival as he did. But sometimes he just didn't care. It wasn't that he was suicidal, at least Tiran didn't think he was. He just didn't see a point to being all that careful about life anymore, whatever the outcome.

He might have thought differently before the military had stripped him of nearly everything after the botched mission that was conveniently clouded with doubt and the loss of evidence. Nowadays, with the pressing weight of lost friends, past actions and the memories he so often tried to blot out with fermented goods; most of the time, he felt like he just wanted to lie down and go to sleep for a very long time. he didn't like it, but that's how it was.

Maybe that was the reason he'd taken Cherovic up on her offer. To try to pull himself out of that mode of thought, liberated by his return to flight, his return to the limitless sky. Fat chance now, with his current circumstance.

Overhead, rolling clouds began to boil, hinting at a coming shower. They had been gathering all morning since the incident by the waterfall. Something Tiran found odd given the clear nature of the skies when he had woken up.

In fact, the weather here constantly seemed strange to him. Especially around Ruwa. It made him think back to when he was cowering in the forest after his unfortunate landing.

The way the weather seemed to change around the same time that odd pony in the forest was ever around. The pony that Tiran was almost certain was Ruwa. He wanted to ask her, but thought better of it with current tensions.

As the roiling clouds came to a head, a light patter of rain began to fall. The drops surged and merged until it soon became a thick shower. Up ahead, Tiran heard Ruwa let out a frustrated grunt as she steered towards the shelter of the trees.

Against his wishes, Tiran followed, dreading the inevitable argument that was sure to arise with them stuck together waiting out the storm under a tree.

Ruwa found a spot for herself under a large oak, boughs so thick with leaves that the downpour was reduced to a mere trickle at its base, and plopped down with her back against the trunk. Watching his step in more ways than one, Tiran took his own seat a quarter of the way around the trunk from her, propping his back against the cool bark and setting his pack down beside him.

Tiran snuck a glance at Ruwa. She still seemed to be stewing, sitting with a scowl on her face while she wrung the water from her mane, giving her a heavy and tired look.

Wanting to let her cool off, Tiran dug through his bag and pulled out the archaic pistol he had brought with him from the storage shed. He had seen pictures of the old cartridge pistols before, even knew some people that collected them. The one he held looked nothing like any he had seen before, with its odd modifications and its streaked color scheme that seemed a part of the metal itself.

He ran his gauntleted fingers along the slide, contemplating his situation for the hundredth time in a year. First he loses his friends and his aircraft. Then he wakes up in a hospital with a new arm and nearly a third of his body replaced with synthetic parts, only to be found guilty of negligence and manslaughter only a few weeks later.

And now he was here.

Tossed into a world that technically shouldn't exist outside some mad quantum physicist's dream after being selected as Cherovic's Guinea pig. Sure, he had agreed to do it, but he was positive that it would have been forced upon him any way.

The only question Tiran had was; why him?

Why him instead of any of the other pilots that met the same qualifications? Hell, he could think of two others that had the same type of computer constructs wired into their brains that would have been a better pick. Not only had they never crashed or lost a crew member, but they were still in the service.

So why him?

"Hey, Tiran. Can I ask you a question?"

The sound of Ruwa's voice wrenched Tiran from his clouded thoughts. She was speaking to him again. That was good. Or it might be bad.

"Yeah, what's up?" he responded tentatively without looking her way.

It was a couple of seconds before she spoke again.

"I just... I just wanna know... well, how you're feeling." she managed to get out.

"How I'm feeling?"

Tiran risked a glance towards the pegasus slumped against the other side of the trunk. A small patter of water droplets fell from the boughs above them and soaked into her mane. She didn't seem to notice. she wasn't even looking towards him, just staring at the muddy ground in front of her.

"Yeah," she said. "I mean, you knew that jumping in there was probably going to kill you. So why do it? Why would you try to throw away your life like that?" Her voice dripped with melancholy, mixed with splashes of confusion.

Tiran quietly sighed and rested his head against the trunk, staring up and watching the shaking dance of the branches and leaves as they tried to divert the downpour of water. Somewhere in the distance, thunder could be heard rolling through the sky like boulders down a mountainside.

"I'm not really sure," he finally said, a lack of conviction creeping in his voice. "It was just something I felt ok with. Maybe it's because of how I was trained or..."

"Are all human's like that?"

The question blind sided Tiran and caused him to pause. It wasn't because of the wording or even the tone with which she asked. It was mostly because he already knew the answer, but he hadn't really thought about it until now.

No. Not all humans were like that. Even the ones that had been through the same experiences, the same losses, didn't quite act in the same way. It made him think.

"Not all, but a lot are," he lied, mostly to himself.

"Why? Are they that unhappy?"

Tiran grimaced. No, most people weren't. He himself hadn't been happy in a long time. Ruwa's questions were getting to him in a way he didn't like.

Tiran tried to spin the conversation in a different direction, "Look, It's not really about happiness in those situations. Some one's life was in danger and I needed to act. That was all there was to it. Make sense?" Tiran immediately winced at the short tone his voice took, but Ruwa didn't seem to notice.

"I guess so," she said. "Just... next time try to think it through, ok?"

"Ok."

Tiran waited for another question from her, but she remained silent. He didn't know wether or not she was still mad so he let her be. Tiran slouched down a little more against the trunk, letting the tension drain out of him.

He looked back up at the sky, the rain seemed to be letting up. The thunder sounded more distant and the droplets of water had subsided to a gentle sprinkle.

While waiting for the last of the storm to subside, Tiran took the time to fiddle with his helmet. He took it from his bag and pushed his head into it, securing the clasps until it was sealed and his HUD showed it was receiving power. Various displays began to boot up and project information onto his visor.

Tiran saw that the suit was reporting minor malfunctions here and there, but nothing that would seriously affect the function of the system as a whole. He saw there was a slow leak being reported in one of the hydraulic lines for his knee joint, but it could wait. His oxygen reserves were still full. Something he definitely could have used earlier.

Down in the right corner of his HUD, a warning lit up with a red flash for a split second before shutting itself off again. That was odd. Curious, Tiran called it back up.

It was the dosimeter. Normally only tracking the background radiation common everywhere, it now had a new red spike jutting up to just below the point of a harmful dose. Tiran looked around for a possible source and snuck a glance at Ruwa, she hadn't seemed to notice anything.

Shutting off the external speakers in his helmet, Tiran asked Li, "What was that just now?"

'If you are inquiring about the radiation spike, I have logged the anomalous event already.'

"Source?"

'Unknown.'

"Give me your best guess."

'Not enough data to accurately pinpoint, but the burst's strongest point appears to have originated in an area of high altitude to the north of our position.'

Li threw an arrow onto Tiran's HUD and he stared off in it's direction.

There was another flash, a brief spike, 'New data. Radiation profile matches that of the Cloudburst's reactor.'

Tiran felt his spine go rigid, "What!?"

'It appears to be moving.' Li added.

Tiran jumped to his feet, fighting down the small burst of panic that tried to eat its way into his brain.

'Detecting additional energy signatures.'

"What kind?"

'Unknown.'

"What are you doing?" Ruwa asked with befuddlement to Tiran's right.

Tiran's head snapped towards her, "I need to see what's above the cloud cover!" he said, pointing to the sky to the north.

Ruwa looked back at him funny, as if she couldn't understand his statement. Mentally kicking himself, Tiran realized the external speakers were still off and switched them back on, "Up there, I need to see what's above the cloud cover!" he repeated.

Ruwa looked to where he was pointing, then turned her head back to Tiran, a nonplused expression on her face.

"Up there? Why?"

"I just need to see what's up there," Tiran pleaded. "You can fly, right? Take a look for me. Please?"

Ruwa's confused expression continued for a moment. Then settled into a smirk.

"Ok, I'll go look," she said. "But you have to promise me something first."

Tiran stepped back, apprehension settling in his gut, "Promise you something?"

"Yes. I want you to promise me that you won't pull a stupid stunt like you did back at the falls again."

Behind his visor, Tiran cocked an eyebrow, "You want me to promise you that?"

"You want me to fly up there and take a look?"

Tiran sucked in a breath, "Ok, I promise, but only if our lives don't depend on it. Now can you please fly up there?"

Ruwa glared at him for a moment, eyes narrowed to slants. For a minute, Tiran didn't think she would agree, but then she turned, trotted out onto the road and leapt to the sky.

Tiran let go of the breath he didn't realize he had been holding and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. Ruwa quickly disappeared into the clouds, leaving the faintest dimple among the roiling sheet of gray. While he waited, cogs began to grind and turn in his mind.

What could the energy spike mean? The obvious was that his aircraft was up there, somewhere in the achromatic sky. The question was how. Had someone found it and fixed it up? It didn't seem likely if it was still leaking radiation.

That left another possibility. The possibility that some one had found it, but put it in some type of transport, to take it away. The thought made him shudder. Only one kind of organization would have the skills and resources to do that.

A government.

Ruwa returned a minute later. Tiran could feel the anticipation of her report in his chest, anxiety spreading in his chest like ice water before solidifying into cold stone.

She gently glided down through the congealing after-rain shower mist, fluttering her wings just before she touched down to steady her landing, "I don't know what you're worried about," she said. "Nothing up there but a big airship."

"An airship?" Tiran asked.

"Yeah, big one with huge cargo spaces for shipping."

Tiran felt the stone in his chest drop into his gut. He wasn't entirely familiar with what an airship was here, but he understood the concept. Somebody had plucked the remains of the Cloudburst from its mountainside grave and was now making off with their spoils to a place utterly unknown to him. Panic rose like bile in his throat, Tiran fought to keep it down.

"What's north of here?" he quickly asked.

Ruwa cocked her head to the side, her troubled expression showing Tiran that she wasn't particularly amused with his clipped questions, "Nothing really. Just more forest, couple rivers, some mountains...why?"

Tiran's mind raced, he barely heard her. What should he do? He still felt he needed to get to the capitol, if only to find answers, but he couldn't just let whoever had taken the Cloudburst get away with their prize.

No, he had to do something.

Stealing it back was out of the question, he didn't have the necessary equipment or skills to repair it or take it. He certainly couldn't just ask nicely for it back. That left only one other option for him. Total asset denial. But where would he get the explosives?

"Hello? Anypony in there?"

Ruwa's annoyance brought him back. Tiran looked back at the sandy maned pegasus and removed his helmet, his own bushy mane falling around his face. He really needed a hair cut. "Change of plans."

"Change of plans?" Ruwa's face scrunched up, "What do you mean, we aren't going to Canterlot anymore?" Her question was almost like an accusation.

"No, I need to follow that airship."

"But we're almost there!" she protested.

"I know, and I'm sorry, but it's just something I have to do. I understand if you don't wanna go," Tiran said, hefting his bag once more. "Thanks for taking me this far though. And...sorry, for the other thing."

Tiran started off, wondering if he could find his way through the dense forest that blocked the north side of the path or if he could find another path that went in that direction. Maybe back at the town, it wasn't very far back. He didn't get much farther than six steps when Ruwa trotted up next to him.

"Oh no you're not!" she said in a rough, smoldering tone. "You woudn't have even gotten this far without me, no way are you going to be able to follow that thing on your own."

"Ruwa..." Tiran started, but she cut him off.

"Nuh-uh. No," she shook her head at him in defiance, her voice solid now, unflinching. "You don't know the way, you don't even know exactly where you're going. Heck, you can't even go through a town without breaking a nervous sweat."

"Hey—"

"You go, I go too," she put with finality, walking ahead of him. "Especially after what happened."

"I can't even pay you for this!" Tiran called after her. "Plus this might get really dangerous!"

"I don't care!"

Tiran's shoulders slouched. he wasn't sure what he could say to deter her. He didn't know Ruwa well, but he knew that once she decided something, trying to dissuade her from it was like Li trying to talk him out of something stupid. He usually still did it.

Tiran ran the situation past Li almost as an after thought, 'I have no objection to it, she said almost as a statement.

"Of course you don't." Tiran said with empty disappointment. He pretty much expected her answer. "Half the time, I think you're on her side more than mine."

'She raises valid points.'

Tiran groaned, knowing that it was best not to argue at this point. It would be like arguing on the Net, it wouldn't get him anywhere and everyone would still be unhappy. So he let out a loose breath and started off after the pegasus.

Down in the bottom of his gut, he couldn't shake the feeling that this might not turn out right. It was like a knot of thick molasses, except without the sweetness.

* * *

Fire crackled among the logs, its cadence fighting with the chirping of crickets, in the pit Tiran had dug for it, lending warmth with a dancing light as he sat by it and tried to stomach what Ruwa had called 'oat cakes.' They were dry and flaky, compact and tough. He got the impression it was a food used only on travels like this one.

Ruwa wasn't far off, laying on her back amongst the grass and staring up at the night sky above. She had eaten her rations earlier, devouring them with a gusto that Tiran just couldn't manage. He had almost expected her to restart their earlier arguments, but she had instead decided to just lay back and relax.

Tiran welcomed the silence.

He fit the last crumbles of the starchy food into his mouth and chased them with a swig of water, sneaking a pull of the whiskey when Ruwa wouldn't notice. Soon, he found himself bored, but unwilling to strike up a conversation. He reached into his pack and pulled out his helmet again.
As he slipped it on, the ambient sounds of the sleeping forest vanished, replaced by only his breathing and the soft whir of his air system connecting and creating a sealed environment. The HUD flickered on a second later, blinking at him with statuses like Christmas lights.

Tiran shut them off with a mental flick and ordered the display to connect with the memory drive in his arm that housed Li, as well as many of his personal files. A menu flashed into his visor and he navigated to a set of folders that contained his music collection and selected a track with a slow, thoughtful measure.

As the song played a harmony of dulcet strings blended with an electronic melody, Tiran scanned through his files as much for something to do as for nostalgia's sake. He flipped through some old photos, him with his squadron buddies hanging out at bars, posing in front of aircraft and generally messing around and causing trouble.

Tiran felt his throat constrict when he spotted his old co-pilot, Ian, in a few of the pictures, but he fought it down with a chuckle brought on by the warm memories his friendship had brought. He remembered the time they had stopped off in a port in Australia and nearly drunk the town dry with the rest of their squadron, the night ending in a mad dash down darkened streets as they ran from a mob of angry Aussies after Ian had hit heavily on one of their girlfriends. They had eventually been caught, there was a fight, then a round of beers as after they had all beat each other senseless and bought each other drinks, letting by-gones be by-gones. It was an interesting place.

Tiran skimmed through a few more folders, looking for something else he could fondly reminisce on when something caught his attention. It was a folder he never remembered creating. It wasn't a default folder, because he had never seen it before.

The folder's label was also strange, consisting of nothing but scrambled letters and mathematical symbols. He tried to access it. It denied him, tossing him back out into the main menu. Not to be deterred, Tiran tried again, but with the same result. He found himself worried that it might be corrupted data.

Tiran was about to ask Li about it when he felt something plunk against his chest. He dropped the menu and closed out of the program, returning the visor of his helmet to its normal function as a visor.

Ruwa was staring at him. She made a motion with her hooves, putting them to her head and lifting them up, Tiran took it to mean that she wanted his helmet off so she could speak with him. All he could think was that this couldn't be good. He had hoped the tension from the day's events were behind them now.

With a sigh, Tiran lifted it off his head, "Yeah?"

"Didn't you hear that?" Ruwa said in a low whisper.

Tiran looked at her with puzzlement. On closer inspection, she looked startled. "Hear what?"

Ruwa responded only by glancing around the trees with a nervous uncertainty. Tiran shrugged and tried to listen. He didn't hear anything.

Then cold dread settled uncomfortably in his stomach. He couldn't hear anything.

No crickets, no rustling in the bushes by some random animal. Even the wind seemed to have fallen silent. It set Tiran on edge. He sat up, began to reach for the pistol on his thigh.

"Li—" he began to ask, but was silenced as something whizzed loudly through the far too close to his head. Tiran sprang up on reflex, "Ruwa, run!"

Comments

[A.P.O.N.I.]

"Ruwa found a spot" should be indented.

Alright that's the last one. I promise to stop commenting except to tell you how sympathetic I find Tiran to be.